NI.WMRKY 


I 


N  THE  GEOLOGY 
I)  DOTANY  OF  THE 
COUNTRY  BORDERING 
THE  NORTHERN 
PACIFIC  RAILROAD 


'WfrMs' 

University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


NTOTES   O  '-IE 


Geology  and  Botany 


OF  'ii Y  r.<>i;m-:m\<;  THK 


NORTHERN  PACIFIC  RAILROAD, 


WHERRY 


BROS 


JtDWARD  W.  NOLAN 


NOTES  ON   THE 


Geology  and  Botany 


"!•'   TIIK   OM   NTKY    ]',<  H.'l  >KI.'I  \<I    TIIK 


NORTHERN  PACIFIC  RAILROAD, 


PBOP,  .1.  s.  \K\\  I:I-;I;KY. 


|-'I:UM    TIII;   . \.\\\i-    OJ     I  in:    \.    ^.     A«   \Di:\n     <n 

VOL,    III.    No,  8,    i- 


GREGORY    BROS., 

PrlnUrt.    113  Sixth   Av«nu«. 
NEW    YORK. 


'       \ 


X  I.        \iifrs  nti  tJir  Crajuf/t/  miff  />'///// ;/v  o/'  / 
///<'   \(n-f/n'i'n   J'lfifj 


Read  February  4th. 1884. 

Having    been    several    times    over   the    lino   of    the    Northern 
Pacific   IJ.    K.,  and    through    the   country   bordering   tin-    !•• 
Columbia  and    Puget's  Sound,   and   having   found    some  things 
that  were  of  interest  to  me,  I  venture  to  offer  a  few  notes  upon 
them  to  the  members  of  the  Academy. 

(ming  west  from  Duluth  to  Brainerd.  t''e  line  of  the  mad  for 
the  most  part  lies  in  what  is  evidently  the  old  deserted    hcd  of  a 
ward  extension  of    Lake  Superior,      The  ground   i<>till    1«»\\ 
and  swampy,  and  much   of  the  surface  is  formed  of  what  is  un- 
mistakably lake  sand. 

From    Chicago   through    Wisconsin    and    Minnesota,  the    road 
pamec  OTer  an  almost  unbroken  sheet  of  drift,  which   tlmu^i,  ,,f 
great  interest,  has  been  PO  fully  illust rate<l  in  the  able  repor 
Kferan.  Chaniherlin.  Winchell  and  rpham.  that  nothing  furihci 
need  be  said  here   in    regard    to   it.      At    variou-   points   the   true 
till  is  seen,  with    its   striated    pebble-;   and  one   <ueli  e\; 
within    reach    of  e\ery  traxdcr.  ;it   Aiulubon.       He\ond    thi^.  flu- 
hnulder-    Are    -cattcred    OY6F    the    BUfl  the 

ditches  continue  a>  evidence  of    t  he  t ransport    of   material    ' 
the  eastern    highlands.      About    P>:-marck   the   boulders.  th<- 
fcwcr,  are  .-till  not  rare,  and  are  gathered  in  groups.  M  elsewhere 
along  the  margin  of  the  drift  area.  Constituting  a  kind  of  fringe, 
and  sugge.-ting   their  transport  b\    ice    float-.      'I'he  last  of   these 
boulders  is  seen  at  Sims,  about  •.'<>  miles  from   Bismarck,       I 
this  jioint  to  the  rros-iiiL'  of  the  Little  Mi -s-.ur  i.  one  eon  Id  hardly 
find  to  throu    at  a  hinl.   or  a  shrub   big   enough   ton 

a  tooth-pick.      This    ivi-ion    i<   an  n    DOrthward  of   that 

broader  prairie  area  which  I  ha\' 


343      Geology  and  Botany  of  Northern  Pacific  Railroad. 

south.  Here,  between  the  eastern  drift  and  that  from  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  the  soil  is  formed  entirely  by  the  decomposi- 
tion of  the  underlying  rocks ;  and  wherever  these  are  shales  and 
calcareous  sandstones,  as  they  are  throughout  most  of  the  Creta- 
ceous formation,  there  are  no  outcropping  ledges  of  rock,  the 
country  is  smooth,  and  stone  of  all  kinds  is  scarce. 

This  belt,  which  runs  from  the  Mexican  to  the  Canadian  line, 
is  prairie  because  of  the  dryness  of  the  climate,  and  not  on  ac- 
count of  the  geological  substructure  ;  for,  between  the  "  Cross- 
timbers"  and  the  Raton  Mountains,  with  a  great  variety  of  geol- 
ogy and  topography,  there  are  no  trees  except  along  the  water- 
courses ;  which,  fed  by  the  melting  of  the  snow  on  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  are  perennial,  and  supply  constantly  the  amount  of 
moisture  that  is  a  necessity  for  tree  growth.  The  peculiar  tine- 
ness  of  the  soil  of  the  northern  portion  of  this  belt  has  been  sup- 
posed to  have  something  to  do  with  the  prevalence  of  grass  and 
the  absence  of  trees  ;  since  in  Illinois  and  Wisconsin,  along  the 
border  line  between  the  forest  area  and  the  prairie,  the  levels 
where  the  soil  is  fine  are  .grass-covered,  while  the  swells  and  ridges, 
rocky  or  gravelly,  carry  trees ;  but  as  I  have  shown  elsewhere, 
these  local  peculiarities  of  the  soil,  favoring,  the  first  grass  and 
the  second  trees,  have  simply  caused  the  interlocking  of  prairie 
and  forest  along  the  debatable  line. 

Further  west,  with  every  kind  of  soil,  geological  structure  and 
topography,  there  are  no  trees,  but  everywhere  grass  ;  while  east 
of  the  Mississippi  and  beyond  the  battle-ground  between  the  two 
forms  of  vegetation,  all  kinds  of  topography,  soil  and  geological 
substructure  are  covered  with  forest.  No  one  who  has  traversed 
the  continent,  as  I  have  done,  along  several  parallels  of  latitude, 
and  has  studied  the  relations  of  vegetation  to  soil  and  geological 
structure,  will  fail  to  find  conclusive  evidence  that  the  influence 
which  has  determined  the  kind  and  quantity  of  vegetation  in  the 
varied  topographic  and  climatic  districts  of  the  West,  is  the 
rainfall. 

The  valley  of  the  Little  Missouri  is  deeply  cut  in  a  table-land 
composed  of  the  Laramie  coal-measures,  of  which  200  or  300  feet 
are  exposed  in  the  cliffs,  with  several  seams  of  coal.  Thousands 
of  silicified  tree-trunks  lie  scattered  over  the  surface,  and  innu- 
merable stumps  are  standing  apparently  where  they  grew  ;  but 
no  foreign  material  is  anywhere  visible. 


Geolo     and  //"/</////<>/  Northern  /'//r-v/v  //>////••«///. 


A    few    miles   helow    tin-   railroad   crossiiiu'.    tin-  \all<-\  expand- 
and    opens    into    tin-  famous  /  .,-    "  had  land-  «>f 

tin-  Missouri."      TlieCOnrteof  that  >trcam  Mlijettfl 

:   and  I  In-  \  alleys  of  t  he  trihutaries  ninninir  imri  h  and  ><mtli. 
co.de.-ce.  and  form  in  tin-  old  lakc-hcd   a   picture-Mine  l-nt  ilai, 
ous  lahyrinth. 

A-    -""ii  as  one  enters    the  vallev  of   the  Yellowstone,    he  find* 
himself  MiiTounded  l»y  t  ransportcd  material.      (  \  ravel  and  hould- 

•  !'  cry-talline.   sedimentary  and  \olean  :««nn  tin 

and  hars  of   tin-  river,    inciva>ini:   in   OOUrseneM  and  «|tiantitv  all 
the  way  to  Livingston  :  hnt  in  all  this   material    I    was  unahle  In 
tind  anything  that  was  to  me  even  pivsumahlv  of  ea.-tern  or 
Dr.  ('.  A.  White.  (Am.  .lonrnal  of  Sci..  vol.  \\V.  1 
reports  lindini:  what  he  consider-  ea-tei'n   glacial  drift  aloni:  the 
valley   (»f   the    Missouri   and    that    of    the  Yellow-ton,-  :   hut    my 
>eareh  for  sueh  material  was  vain.      As  will   In-  seen   further  "ii. 
1  found  in  the  \alley  of  the  M  i»oiiri  ahout  the  Fall-.  ian- 

tities  of  drift  with  houlder-  of   f,  .>>ilifrroii>  lin 

'id   granite,   all   reinarkahly  like   the    Kastern   drift,  hut 
which  1  subseijuently  traced  to  tin  ir  jilaco  «\'  origin  in  the  1 
Mountain.-. 

The    surface    ^eolo^v    of    the  Yellow>toiie    Park    ha-    hr«-n    «le- 
scnhed   in  con.-iderahle   detail    hy    Mr.   \V.    II.    Holme.-  and    Mr. 
A.  ('.   Peale  :   hut   1  was   surpri.-ed    to   find    the    trace-    i.f    i1! 
action    BO    \\  ide-.-pread    and    unmistakah  e.       It     is   jirohahly    not 
too  much    to   say    that    every  \alley   of  the    Pal  ':lled 

with    ice:    for  moraine-,  h.-ulder-.  -la<  lal  lak.  •-.   and  more  rarely 
-lacial  >tri,-e.  irive  le.-t  imony  t  hat  cannot  he  disjiuted.      I 
hlock-   are    -een    on    the    >ides   of   the    Yello  w-!«.  ne  valh 
the  mouth  of  dardnei'.-  Iii\er  :  and  ahmit  Mam  mot  li  Hot  Spi 

\    de)M-e--  held    a  glacier.      S\\an    Lakt  irial 

and  is  h.,unded  on  the.-oinh  li\  a  moraine,    wl),: 

and     ,-triated     nn-k->urface>     mark     the    ..Id 
hi-h     up    on    tin  dlej,        I  H^.    tin- 

road    lr;id-   over   a    -  ;m'l 

houhler-.    \\hich  i-mitinue    to    and    around    the    !    n     H 
and  pm\e  that    i  tilled  with  ic. 

all  that    I  could  learn.   '  i. 

portion    of   the  Park,    n  '    "II 


245       Geology  and  Botany  of  Northern  Pacific  Railroad. 

Between  Livingston  and  Bozeman,  the  railroad  passes  over  a 
spur  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  composed  chiefly  of  Palaeozoic  lime- 
stones, part  of  which  are  Carboniferous.  Above  these  are  red 
beds  which  probably  represent  the  Jurassic  and  Triassic,  and  still 
higher  Laramie  rocks  with  coal,  apparently  the  same  section  ex- 
posed in  Cinnabar  Mountain,  in  the  valley  of  the  Yellowstone 
just  north  of  the  Park.  The  strata  are  very  much  disturbed, 
the  coal  much  crushed  and  twisted,  so  that  it  works  small,  but 
it  is  extensively  mined  for  use  on  and  along  the  railroad,  and  is 
esteemed  a  good  fuel.  Fossil  plants  associated  with  the  coal, 
prove  it  to  be  of  the  same  age  with  that  exposed  in  the  cliffs  at 
the  crossing  of  the  Little  Missouri.  One  feature  of  the  Bozeman 
coal  it  has  in  common  with  some  of  that  from  much  disturbed 
beds  in  Washington  Territory  and  Colorado.  It  contains  a  large 
quantity  of  yellow,  translucent  amber-like  resin,  in  seams  and 
patches.  As  this  occurs  in  the  joints  of.the  coal,  it  is  evidently 
a  secondary  product  resulting  from  its  partial  distillation. 

DRIFT  OF  THE  UPPER  MISSOURI. 

The  Missouri  River,  formed  by  the  union  of  the  Madison,  the 
Gallatin  and  the  Jefferson,  at  Gallatin  City,  traverses  with  a 
north-westerly  and  then  northerly  course,  the  valley  between  the 
Rocky  and  Belt  Mountains,  and  finds  its  way  out  to  the  plains 
by  a  long  circuit  around  the  northern  bases  of  the  Belt  and 
Crazy  Mountains,  which  belong  to  the  Rocky  Mountain  system, 
and  constitute  their  eastern  outliers.  Cutting  through  barriers 
formed  by  low  interlocking  spurs,  at  the  "Gate  of  the  Mount- 
ains," the  river  enters  an  undulating  prairie  country  which  ex- 
tends from  the  north  side  of  the  Belt  Mountains  to  and  beyond 
the  Canadian  line.  All  this  region  is  occupied  by  a  sheet  of 
drift  that  in  thickness  and  extent  rivals  that  of  the  plains  sur- 
rounding the  Canadian  highlands  ;  but  as  far  my  observation 
extended  I  found  this  to  be  of  local  origin. 

At  the  Great  Falls  of  the  Missouri,  the  underlying  rock  is 
fully  exposed,  but  the  drift  sheet  comes  up  to  the  edge  of  the 
gorge  and  forms  the  low  hills  which  stretch  away  to  the  east  and 
north  like  the  long  swells  of  the  ocean.  In  the  valleys  of  the 
streams  which  come  down  to  the  Missouri  from  the  Belt  Moun- 


«///  '///'/    lint, i  nit   Of   Y(W  ''»  in     I  '.'  1 1, 

fains,    tin-    rock    substructure  is  visible:    hut    tin-    int- 
plateaus  are  covered  with  a  sheet  of   drift  clay  and   boulo 
that  varies  greatly  in  thickness,  as  it  is  spread  over  a  rock-sur- 
face  that  was  once  deeply  and  irregularly  eroded.     For  example, 
near  the  Upper  Falls  of  the    Missouri,   where   the   banks  of  the 
river  are  perhaps  a  hundred  feet  high,  of  solid  rock,  a  trihutarx 
coinini:  in  from  the  south  cuts  across  an  old  valley  tilled  with 
drift  which  extends  almost  to  the  promt   river  channel.      A 
mouth,  this  tributary  has  hi^h  rocky  banks  :  but  a  few  hundred 
yards  above,   they  are  altogether  composed  of  drift.     This  drift 
is  a  true  till,  thickly  set  with  boulders,  some  of  which  are  two 
feet  or  more  in  diameter.     They  are  usually  rounded,  somet 
subangular,  and  are  composed  of  gray  or  red  granite,  quart /He. 
palaeozoic  limestone,  and  a  variety  of  eruptive  rocks.     Th. 
semblance  of  this  drift  to  that  from  the  Canadian  highlands,  is 
so  great  that  I  was  only  convinced  of  its  local  origin  when   I 
found  all  of  its  constituents  in  place  in  the  Kelt  and    Kock\ 
Mountains.     The  granites  were  to  my  eye  indistinguishable  from 
those  of  the  eastern  Laurentian  series  ;  they  are  of  An-ha-an  a-e. 
as  I  subsequently  learned  ;  and  nothing  but  careful  microscopic 
examination  will  show  them  to  be  distinguishable,  if  they  are  so. 
These  facts  lead  me  to  suspect  that  even   the  very  careful  and 
experienced  observers  who  have  reported  the  finding  of  east  tin 
Laurentian  boulders  on  the  flanks  of  the  Rocky  M«>n 
feet  above  the  sea,  may  have  been  misled  by  this  striking  resem- 
blance. 

On  the  undulating  surface  of  the  table-lauds  between  the  tribu- 
taries of  the  Missouri,  large  boulders  are  occasionally  seen,  a 
the  States  bordering  the  Great  Lakes  ;  and  one  of  thes- 
wliat  angular  in  form,   has  served  so  long  as  a  rubbing-pout    for 
the  buffaloes  which   recently  abounded   in   that  region,   tlur 
sides  are  all  polished  and  a  deep  furrow  is  worn  around  it. 

Immediately  south  of  the  Falls  of  the  Missouri,  an  extensive 
coal-basin  of  Cretaceous  (?)  age  is  opened  b\  the  \  the 

Oil  which  come  down  from  the  Kelt  and  Ih-hwood  Mount- 
ains. Two  coal  seams  are  exposed,  one  thin.  •  fmm  ]-.' 
to  is  feet  in  thickness,  the  latter  a  compound  soaro,  some  of  tin- 
benches  of  which  are  bright,  pure  coking  coal. 

The  Falls  of  the  Missouri,  caused  by  beds  of  sandstones  b 


247      Geology  and  Botany  of  Northern  Pacific  Railroad. 

ing  to  this  coal  formation,  consist  of  a  series  of  cascades  having 
an  aggregate  height  of  over  200  feet  ;  the  lower  fall  is  98  feet, 
the  next  25,  the  next  40,  the  next  20,  etc.  They  occupy  the 
whole  breadth  of  the  river,  which  is  here  about  1500  feet  ;  and 
as  the  volume  of  water  is  large,  they  are  exceedingly  beautiful 
and  also  furnish  a  water-power  rivalling  in  magnitude  that  of 
Niagara,  and  far  more  available. 

GEOLOGY  OF  THE  BELT  MOUNTAINS. 

The  streams  which  flow  into  the  Missouri  from  the  Crazy  and 
Belt  Mountains,  form  valleys  which  are  remarkably  picturesque 
and  of  great  geological  interest.  The  coal-basin  to  which  I 
have  referred  is  underlain  by  palaeozoic  limestones  more  than 
two  thousand  feet  thick.  These  rise  toward  the  south,  where 
they  rest  upon  the  Cambrian  and  Archaean  nucleus  of  the 
mountains.  Deeply  cut  by  the  draining  streams,  they  form  the 
walls  of  a  series  of  narrow  valleys  or  cafions,  which,  though  less 
impressive  in  magnitude,  are  more  beautiful  than  those  of  the 
Colorado.  The  limestones  are  sometimes  blue,  more  generally 
cream-colored,  and  lie  in  massive  beds  of  100  to  200  feet  in 
thickness  ;  these  form  a  series  of  steps  in  the  precipitous  walls  of 
the  valleys,  from  which  project  spires,  castles,  fortifications, 
and  other  colossal  imitations  of  human  architecture.  The  light 
cream  tint  of  the  prevailing  limestone  contrasts  charmingly 
with  the  dark  green  of  the  fir-trees  that  crown  the  summits  and 
cluster  in  picturesque  groups  wherever  they  can  find  a  foothold 
on  the  declivity.  Add  to  these  elements  a  variety  of  minor 
plants,  which  with  varied  colors  decorate  the  cliffs,  and  the 
whole  forms  a  combination  which  in  beauty  surpasses  anything 
that  I  have  elsewhere  seen  in  somewhat  extended  wanderings 
through  the  far  West. 

Cutting  through  the  limestones  and  in  places  the  coal-bearing 
rocks,  are  eruptive  dykes  of  three  distinct  kinds,  which  Mr.  J. 
P.  Iddings  has  been  kind  enough  to  examine  for  me  microscopi- 
cally. He  reports  them  to  be,  first,  a  typical  augite-andesyte, 
which  forms  the  Bird  Tail  Divide  and  the  upper  portion  of 
"  Square  Butte,"  a  conspicuous  landmark  on  the  west  side  of  the 
Missouri ;  second,  a  true  trachyte,  with  large  crystals  of  feldspar. 


'/"////  mnl   lintiuiil  <>f'  A'"/7//r/-/i 


nnich  like  that  of   tin-  I  h  achenl'cK.  at    tin-    head    of    Belt  ('reek  : 
ami  thinl,  a  rhyolitc.  on  tin-  >iiiiui,it  of  I.  nil.    I'.rlt  Mom. 

At  Neihart,  the  centre  of   the  Archa-an    nudru-  of   tin-    Little 
Belt   Mountains   is   reached.      The   prevailing  granite   is   nddi-h 
and  somewhat  handed  with  brown   and    irivrii,   ami   though  \ 
ma.-.-ivc  is  imli.-tinctly  bedded  and  apparent  Is  nietamorphie.      It 
is  cut  hy  enormous  dykes  of  a    \.r.  ,md    mottled  irranite, 

consisting  of  obscurely  rounded  masses  of  feldspar  :  h\ 

hornhlende  and  black  mica.      Thc.-c   -raniie  rock-   are    : 
hy  a  irreat  number  of  fissure-veins,  generally  \\itli  \ 
<|iiartx,  heavy  spar,  and  oxiik-  of   i  nd   can  \IH.L'   *nl- 

pbides  of  silver  and  lead  :   the  orea  an-  rich  but    the  \eins  small. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  valley  at  Neihart  the  ditT>  of  Lrrai 
L200  feet  in  height,  are  covered  with  a  >heet  of  pot-dam  >aiid- 

stone  several  hundred  feet  in  thickm-ss.  the  contact  heini:  fll 
for  miles.      The  sandstone  is  red,  ^cnerallN  -soft,   hut   soim-tim.- 
a  coarse  and  hard  conglomerate.      It  here  contain.-  no  fossils,  but 
is  full  of  annelid  borings   (Sw?i//tnti),    and    has   the  aspect  — 
has  the  geological  relations  —  of  the  Potsdam   in  the  Black  Hills 
and  in  the  Adirondacks.     On  the  summit  of  the  mountain.  I 
of  the  upper  beds  of  sandstone  are  tilled  with,   and  larircl\  com- 
posed of,  primordial  trilohites. 

The  evidences  of  former  glacial  action   in    the  Belt  Mountains 
an-  abundant   but  are  not   of  a  striking  character.      T: 
sist  of   beds  of   boulder  clay,    and    in    some  of    the   higher   \  al- 
leys.  of  nir/tffs  mnuftuim'vs  or  smoothly   planed   -urfac. 
ciai  striae  were  not  observed,   having  been    obliterated  b\ 
thering. 

All  the  upper  portion  of  the  Belt  Mount.  •«  d  with  a 

dense  forest  composed  of    Dou-la.-'s  and    Knp-lmann'- 
.l///rx    Dninjltisii.    and    A.    En  ',     the    bal-am     tir.    .1 

"A//-,  and    rinns  runtnrtn.      In    J'lace>.    t  he  1  1  cos  are  heanl\ 
draped  with  tufts  and  streamers  of  the  jet  black  libiv.- 
////•///    sarmeniosa  :    while    man\    treei  and    partioa] 

branches  are  decorated  with  bunchis  of   the  lemon 

/////  ruljiinn.       Lower  do\\ii  on  the  mountain  are   -cattiTed   tree* 

of  /'tin/*  fiinn  /!•/•• 

The  valley  of  Sm  '      -  K  '  Hrlt  from  the 

I/it:  \louniain~.      I:     I  U  ;      tWN  -     •      «d  beauti' 


249       Geology  and  Botany  of  Northern  Pacific  Railroad. 

valleys  on  the  north  side  of  the  mountains,  but  is  quite  different 
in  aspect.  The  sides  generally  are  smooth  and  unbroken  slopes, 
1500  feet  or  more  in  height,  covered  with  rich  grass  and  pre- 
senting no  rock  exposures.  The  summits  of  the  hills  are  crowned 
with  evergreens  which  here  and  there  creep  down  the  ravines, 
of  which  they  occupy,  in  preference,  the  slopes  having  a  north- 
ern exposure,  because  here  the  snow  lies  deepest  and  longest, 
supplying  the  greatest  amount  of  moisture.  The  cause  of  the 
peculiar  topography  of  the  valley  of  Smith's  River  is  to  be  found 
in  its  geological  substructure,  for  it  is  cut  all  the  way  to  Sulphur 
Springs,  in  Cambrian  rocks,  which  form  a  series  several  thousand 
feet  in  thickness.  They  are  mostly  argillaceous  shales  or  slates, 
which  break  down  together  and  form  gentle  slopes. 

Sulphur  Springs  is  a  well-built,  handsome  town,  of  several 
thousand  inhabitants,  gathered  around  hot  springs  which  have 
a  high  reputation  for  their  medicinal  properties.  From  Sulphur 
Springs  we  crossed  the  southern  extension  of  the  Great  Belt 
Mountains  to  the  valley  of  the  Missouri  at  Townsend.  The 
range  is  here  altogether  composed  of  the  Cambrian  (?)  slates 
which  form  the  banks  of  Smith  River, — probably  the  same  series 
that  is  cut  by  the  somewhat  famous  and  picturesque*  Prickly 
Pear  Canon  on  the  west  side  of  the  Missouri.  In  some  places 
these  slates  are  compacted  by  local  metamorphism  into  masses  of 
considerable  hardness,  but  generally  they  are  rather  soft,  fine 
grained  argillo-silicious  rocks,  blue  or  gray  in  color,  and  finely 
laminated  by  planes  of  deposition.  Occasionally  a  harder  layer, 
an  inch  or  two  in  thickness,  is  more  silicious  and  rings  like 
novaculite.  These  rocks  have  suffered  no  change  which  would 
obliterate  fossils,  and  look  as  promising  as  any  shales  ;  but  the 
most  careful  search  failed  to  detect  a  single  fossil  in  them,  al- 
though specks  of  carbonaceous  matter  were  often  seen,  and  some 
shadowy  outlines  that  suggest  sea-weeds.  There  is  little  doubt 
that  this  is  the  same  formation  with  that  seen  beneath  the  Pots- 
dam in  Little  Cottonwood  Canon  near  Salt  Lake  City,  and  in 
the  Canon  of  the  Colorado, — a  formation  considered  Cambrian  by 
King,  Powell  and  Walcott,  and  which  has  yielded  the  latter  a 
few  fossils,  but  is  universally  barren  and  disappointing.  Jt  does 
not  occur  between  the  Potsdam  sandstone  and  the  granite  in 
the  Belt  Mountains,  for  the  same  reason  that  the  "Georgia 


ami  lint,,  mi 

datee  "  do  not  underlie  the  l'i»t-dam  \\\  the  Adirondack*, 
because  tin-  l'ot>dam  L«  :i  &&  i,  produced  i,\  a  u 

spread,  almost  cont inental,  ilepn  .--ion  of  tin-  land.  or  ^cm-nil  ele- 
vation of  tin-  sea  level,  which  carried  the  ,-hore-linc  inland  hevoml 
the  areas  where  tin-  Camhrian  rookl  had  accumulated. 

The  valley  of  the  Missouri   ahoiit  (iallatm,   ami  lj    !««» 

miles  helow.    is  \ei-v  l.roa.l  ami   fertile,    ami  pied 

I .v  tarmers or Btock-nusere,     \Vln-ai.  m«.  ami  e-|.eeiail\ 

.Mieeessftilly  cult  i\  ated.  hut  maiiilv  hy  irn-at  mn.  All  llir  low  - 
lands  ami  the  foot-hills  of  the  mountains  are  covered  with  a  tint* 
-muth  of  hunch  «rra>s.  hlue->t(in  and  -lama,  ujton  uhich  cattle. 
>heep  and  horses  are  well  >u>taini'd  throughout  the  Near.  The 
wintei's  a iv  lon^  and  severe,  hut  n.»t  inor«-  >o  than  in  M 
and  the  >no\v-fall  is  somewhat  1068.  The  .-toek  rallv 

fed  or  housed,  though  it  would  he  more  merciful  and  jirohahh 
more  economical  to  provide  some  >hclter. 

THK  ii(n  K^   MOUNTAINS, 

Helena,  the  capital  of  Montana,  is  a  well-huilt  ami  wealthy 
town  of  some  8.000  inhabitants,  located  in  ami  ahout  the  month 
of  Last  Chance  (iulch,  one  of  the  famous  ^old-camps  in  tin- 
time  of  placer  mining. 

The  foot-hills  of  the  first  ran  ire  of  the  !{.>ck\   .Mouniam-.  lu-re 
and  noi'thward  to  the  British    line,  are  comp.i-rd    of    tl: 
/oic  roek-  which  .-iirroiind  the  Hdt  Mountains.      Ahout   He! 
they  are   generally    liinestt»m->.    -nmcwhat     met amm -pli«'-,-d.    hut 
not    much    hroken    np.      The  various   ra\incs  which   lead    to  the 
M.--onri    valley,    head    in    the    granite   lock-   of  the  core  <»f  the 

iml    near   these,    the    pala-o/.oie   >er  \    much 

turhcd.      The    .-rranites,    as    well    us   some    of    the    >ed 
nicks,  are  traversed    hy  many  mineral  \  MIC  .»f   which 

auriferous  and  ha\e  furni>lu-d  the  lar^e  amount  of  ^,.ld  that  ha- 

POm     the    -nlche<.       Mogt    Of    the    Ili!!i.T;d     VOJnS   HTO, 

however,    silver-liearin.::.    and    the.-e    form   a   nniiil» 

where  tl,  or  \\ ill  hereafter      .          «roai  mmm-  oti 

At    ticket,   twenty  mile>  BOOth    oi      : 

no\\  nll\    \\..rkeil,    and    a    vi«n  ';int     for    the 

.  om-entration  ami  treatment    of   li  v  smelling  and  leiich- 


251       Geology  and  Botany  of  Northern  Pacific  Railroad. 

ing.  A  branch  of  the  N.  P.  R.  11.  runs  up  to  Wickes,  carrying 
coke  and  other  supplies  at  so  cheap  a  rate  as  to  give  success  to 
enterprises  which  were  before  unprofitable.  The  ores  worked 
are  argentiferous  galena,  containing  much  blende  and  pyrites. 

The  limestone  series  in  this  valley  is  underlain  by  heavy  beds 
of  quartzite,  which  apparently  represent  the  Potsdam  sand- 
stone. 

Red  Mountain,  sixteen  miles  west  of  Helena,  lies  at  the  head 
of  another  valley  similar  to  that  at  Wickes  ;  but  the  quartzites 
are  here  less  conspicuous  ;  the  limestones  only  becoming  silicious 
and  flinty  at  their  base.  Red  Mountain  is  cut  by  an  immense 
number  of  mineral  veins,  generally  of  small  size, — from  one  to 
six  feet  in  thickness, — but  exhibiting  a  remarkable  uniformity 
in  direction  and  mineral  characters.  They  are  approximately 
parallel,  apparently  continuous  through  the  mountain,  stand 
nearly  vertical,  and  carry  argentiferous  galena,  gray  copper, 
zinc-blende  and  pyrites.  The  veinstone  is  chiefly  quartz,  but  in 
some  places  consists  almost  entirely  of  black  hornblende.  The 
ores  generally  carry  from  25  to  100  ounces  of  silver,  but  the 
gray  copper,  which  is  the  richest,  contains  from  200  to  2,000 
ounces  per  ton.  Systematic  mining  operations  are  just  begin- 
ning here ;  and  should  a  branch  road  be  carried  up  to  the 
mines,  it  would  seem  that  they  must  be  productive  and  pro- 
fitable. 

After  passing  Helena,  the  line  of  the  Pacific  Railroad  soon 
turns  into  the  mountains  and  crosses  the  first  or  main  range, 
coming  down  on  to  the  head  waters  of  Clark's  Fork  and  enter- 
ing a  broad  and  fertile  valley,  which  has  its  chief  center  of 
population  at  Missoula.  The  western  border  of  this  valley  is 
formed  by  the  Bitter  Root  Mountains,  part  of  the  broad  belt 
made  up  of  the  western  ranges  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  system. 
All  these  consist  of  granite,  broken  through  in  many  places  by 
eruptive  rocks,  and  flanked  by  quartzites,  slates  and  limestones, 
which  probably  represent  the  Cambrian,  Silurian  and  Carboni- 
ferous systems.  In  the  lowlands  which  lie  between  the  ranges, 
there  are  basins  of  quite  modern  Tertiary  rocks. 

A  few  miles  below  Missoula  the  road  crosses  a  series  of 
deep  ravines,  spanned  by  bridges,  one  of  which  is  211  feet  in 
height.  The  rock  exposed  here  is  all  slate  of  Archaean  or  Cam- 


<;,-„/„,,,,  and  Belong  <>,   \.    •• 


I.  mn  Age,       Below    tins,    tin-    KMd 

Clark's  Fork.  through  Olje  of  the  OlOfi   picture.-,,  uc  \;,ll,.\,  MI.  ih,. 
continent.      The  immediate  hanks  of  the  n\rr  aiv  ..ft,  , 
tons   masses  of  limestone.    above   which    tin-   wooded    mouir 
rise    to    the    height  of   3000    or    4000     feet       1  the 

railroad   is   northwest,    until  it    approaches  within   fifty   mil- 
the  British  line.      This  great  deflection  is  caused    l,\   d,, 
ranges  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  which   are  hi-h   and 
until    tin-  \ieinity  of    IVndOreille    Like   is   nach.-d. 
fall  off,    and   the   road    t  urns  direct  ly  wot    through    tlu-m.      The 
lake    is   an    irregular  sheet    of    water.   civ<eeiit-hap<  d    and    fifty 
miles  in  length  ;  set  with  numerous  isl.md<  and  Mirroundcd  with 
mountains,    it  is  extremely  pirtim-s.jne.     The  mountain-  COB- 
sist    of   granite,    Hanked    l.y    slate.    <|iiartxite    and    liim->tom..  all 
much  metamorphosed,  hut  apparently  the  pal:«-.,/..ir  ^  i  ies  which 
is   seen   hoklin.i:    the   same    relation    to    the   granite   in   >o    man\ 
places  in  Idaho  and  Montana. 

The  western  range  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,   like  ti 
is  metalliferous,  but  to  what  degree   is   hardly    known.    he« 
ni'i-t  of  it  is  yet  unexplored.      Veins  of  argent  ifcnms  galena  and 
auriferous   <juart/    have    hern    found    in    the    vicinity    of    iVnd 
Orcille    Lake,    and   the   already    famous   but    greatly    over-l 
Co-ill-  d'Alcne  mines  lie  a  few  miles  south  of  the  line  of  the  road. 

FOBESTfi  01     i  HI:    K«».  K>,    Mm  N  CAINS. 

The  fon--t   \eiretatioii   of   the  IJocky  Mountain-  and    the  \alley 
of  Clark's  Fork,    is   abundant   and    int<  About   He!. 

are    seen    the  trees  which  are  Characteristic)   of   the    Park  and  all 
the  eastern    Hank    of  the    Rocky   Mountains.      The  round  lea\  -d 
cottonwood.   rnjmlnx  iii»/ii/i/i-rtt.  with  willows,  t  he  huiTalo-L 
Shi'inirilin  tin/rntea,  etc.,  flourish  alon.i:  tin- 

and  Douglas'.-  >pruer  in  I  be  fool  billl  :   '>n  the  mniintaiii->ide«, 
the  narn»w-lea\ed    p..plar  and    th< 

and  /'.  tn'iiinlin'<frx  ,  Kn^elmann'.-  |  11  m<l  the  western  balttUD 
tir:  and  rinus  mntnrta  and  /'/////>  •_//'•./•///>  on  t  he  mountain  *\\m 
mils. 

Immediately  after  passing  the  divide,  however,   the  clmnu 
dements  of  the  Pacific  coast  vi  11  hc-iin  t.»  make  ; 


253      Geology  and  Botany  of  Northern  Pacific  Railroad. 

appearance.  Douglas's  spruce  becomes  more  abundant,  and  the 
trees  grow  larger,  evidently  feeling  more  at  home,  while  the 
western  larch  (Larix  Occident  alis),  the  western  arbor  \\tsd  (T/iu- 
ja  gigantea],  the  western  hemlock  (Tsiiga  mertensiana),  and 
Pinus  monticola,  never  seen  on  the  east  side  of  the  mountains, 
multiply  until  they  constitute  the  greater  part  of  the  forest. 
The  upper  Columbia  is  the  special  home  of  the  western  larch 
and  the  mountain  pine,  though  they  extend  westward  to  and  on 
to  the  Cascade  Mountains  ;  but  about  the  mouth  of  Clark's  Fork 
they  often  constitute  half  the  forest.  The  western  hemlock  be- 
gins here  with  small  trees,  which  have  the  aspect  and  indeed  all 
the  characters  of  its  eastern  representative,  of  which  it  is  in  fact 
only  a  variety.  In  the  moist  and  equable  climate  of  the  lower 
Columbia  it  acquires  the  greater  size,  smoother  bark  and  more 
fine-grained  wood,  which  are  its  distinguishing  characters. 

The  interval  between  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  Cascades  is 
quite  different  in  its  topography,  geological  structure  and  vege- 
tation from  any  region  east  of  it.  It  is  generally  destitute  of 
trees,  though  a  few  scattered  yellow  pines  reach  out  from  the 
Rocky  Mountains  on  the  one  side  and  the  Cascades  on  the  other, 
along  this  line,  and  though  not  numerous  grow  to  a  large  size.* 

In  a  general  way  this  is  a  plain,  but  the  monotony  of  the  sur- 
face is  broken  by  a  great  number  of  low  hills  and  knobs  of 
black  or  brown  basalt,  the  product  of  the  volcanic  eruptions  by 
which  the  plain  has  been  repeatedly  flooded  in  Tertiary  and 


*  Further  south  this  arid  belt  is  the  special  home  of  this  tree.  One  hun- 
dred miles  south  from  the  Columbia  Kiver,  it  forms  continuous  forests 
where  the  trees,  rooted  in  the  light  volcanic  soil,  closely  set,  are  often  four, 
five  or  six  feet  in  diameter.  In  these  forests  there  is  no  other  tree  and 
scarce  any  undergrowth.  Here  and  there  a  clump  of  Cercocarpus  or  red 
gooseberry  is  seen.  The  ground  is  usually  bare,  and  so  soft  that  horses 
sink  into  it  to  the  fetlocks.  The  absence  of  animal  life  is  also  striking  :  one 
may  travel  through  this  forest  an  entire  day  and  scarce  hear  the  chirp  of  n. 
bird  or  the  hum  of  an  insect  ;  and  yet  the  yellow  pine  is  there  in  its  glory, 
its  huge,  cylindrical  trunk  covered  with  large  plates  of  cinnamon-colored 
bark,  standing  as  they  have  done  for  ages  waiting  the  advent  of  their  insa- 
tiable enemy,  the  railroad  man,  who  will  some  day  split  their  trunks  for 
ties  and  burn  their  branches  for  fuel  ;  and  the  forests  of  yellow  pine,  like 
those  of  the  redwood  and  white  pine,  will  be  gone  from  the  face  of  the 
earth. 


tiro/,,,/  ii  <t,t<l  /  /  .\V///*r//  Pacific  Railroad, 


•U    timOB.       Bet  ween  the  rugged    rock-ma-ses  aiv  lc\d    >|, 

dotted  over  with  bunch  gras-.  sage     i 

The  ;il    .substructure    ,  niarv 

beds  of  \;iri«»us  kinds,  sedimentary  vulcanic  ash.  washed  ii..\\n 
from  tin-  highlands,  and  diatomac,  ou-  earth.  inter.M  rat  ilied  with 
sheet-  of  liasalt.  It  is  evident  that  this  belt  was  f.»r  a  long 
time,  either  wholly  or  in  part.  occupied  hy  lakes.  l>uring 
Ion-  periods  of  ijuiet.  all  forms  of  life  were  ahundaiit  :  the  land 
supported  a  varied  growth  of  arboiv>ccnt  and  herbaceous  plants, 
whieh  furnished  food  to  a  great  \arietvof  animals,  while  the 
water  was  inhabited  by  fishes  and  inollusks  of  many  kinds. 
At  intervals,  however.  >howei>  of  ashes,  ni"-tl\  •  -manat  in<:  from 
the  volcanic  \ents  of  the  Cascade  Mountains.  »-overed  th»-  cnun- 
tay.  destroyed,  over  larirr  areas,  all  forms  of  animal  and  \ 
table  life,  and  washing  into  the  lakes,  formed  strata  man\ 
in  thiekness.  At  other  times,  floods  of  lava  poured  down  into 
this  valley,  spreading  over  the  land  and  the  lake-bottom-:,  to  be 
covered  airain  in  time  with  other  sheets  of  stratified  tufas,  or  b\ 
fre>b-  water  fossiliferous  beds. 

The  Columbia.  Snake  River.  .John  Dav'>  Kiver.  thr  I'  — 
C'hutes.  and  many  minor  streams,  cut  deeply  into  this  plain. 
and  expose  in  their  banks  sections  of  the  beds  described.  In 
the  valley  of  the  Des  Chutes,  dill's  1,000  feet  in  height 
formed  of  them;  and  about  the  Dalles,  the  remains  of  hori/.on- 
tal  Tertiary  beds  are  seen  2,0<n»  feet  above  the  pre-rnt  l«-\«-l  <»f 
the  Columbia.  These  >how  that  the  lofty  and  continuous  chain 
of  the  Cascades  formed  a  mighty  dam.  which  kept  back  the 
drainage  of  the  interior  so  that  it  formed  a  MTU-  of  urc.it  lake-. 
bounded  on  the  east  by  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  on  the  west 
b\  the  Ca-cadcs.  and  separated  into  several  basins  by  the  Blue 
Mountain.-  and  others  of  the  desert  ranges. 

The  accumulated  water  found  an  outlet  to  the  sea  through  tin- 
lowest  Lr:ips   in  tl  le  Mountains.      Of  these.   theiiio>t  im- 

portant was  that  when  the  gorge  of  the  Columbia  is  now  situ- 
ated :  othen  >  \i>t  further  south  and  are  now  tra\er-«-d  b\  the 
the  Klamath  and  1'it  I,1  ).  In  the  Oolun 

basin,  the  old  lakes  arc  all  draim-d.  or  tilled,  and  t  heir  bottoms 
Are  deep)  j  "-"red  by  the  drain  ins.  The  lake  of  the 

math  ba<in  i<  now  i-cpresetlted  by  th.-  Klamath  Lake-.  -:ike, 


255       Geology  and  Botany  of  Northern  Pacific  Railroad. 

Wright  Lake,   Goose  Lake,   etc.,    which   occupy  the  points  of 
greatest  depression. 

Though  much  of  this  great  plain  has  the  aspect  of  a  desert. 
only  a  small  portion  of  it  is  absolutely  sterile.  There  is  much 
prairie  land  covered  with  a  continuous  sheet  of  grass ;  and  even 
the  more  sandy  and  rocky  surfaces  have  proved  to  be  fairly  good 
grazing  ground.  It  is  also  true  that  the  attempts  to  cultivate 
the  soil  have  been  attended  with  unexpected  success,  and  about 
Walla-walla,  that  which  was  supposed  to  be  a  desert  surface  is 
producing  great  crops  of  wheat. 

THE  CASCADE  MOUNTAINS 

Although  represented  on  most  maps  as  an  unbroken  line  of 
elevation  stretching  with  an  almost  north  and  south  course  from 
the  Californian  to  the  British  line,  with  its  hachures  looking  like 
an  enormously  long  hairy  caterpillar,  no  just  conception  is  thus 
given  of  this  broad  and  compound  mountain  belt.  It  is  contin- 
uous with  the  Sierra  Nevada  of  California  ;  and  it  would  have 
been  better  if  they  had  been  designated  by  a  common  name.  The 
mountain  belt  is  in  Oregon  and  Washington  from  thirty  to  fifty 
miles  in  width,  consisting  of  a  number  of  parallel  ranges  of 
which  the  highest  is  along  its  eastern  border.  This  is  crowned 
by  a  series  of  volcanic  cones,  Mt.  Shasta,  Mt.  Pitt.  Alt.  Mc- 
Laughlin,  Mt.  Jefferson,  Mt.  Hood,  Mt.  Adams.  Mt.  Rainier 
(Tacoma),  and  Mt.  Baker,  which  range  from  10,000  to  over 
14,000  feet  in  height,  are  all  capped  with  perpetual  snow,  and 
form  the  most  impressive  group  of  mountains  on  the  continent. 
From  the  California  line  northward,  the  material  of  which  these 
mountain  ranges  are  composed  is  mainly  eruptive  in  character. 
The  peaks  mentioned,  and  many  others,  are  volcanic  vents  of 
which  the  fires  are  not  yet  extinct,  and  some  of  them  have  been 
in  active  eruption  within  a  few  hundred  years.  Like  the  Sierra 
Nevada,  this  great  fold  in  the  earth's  crust  was  formed  after  the 
Triassic  and  Jurassic,  but  previous  to  the  Cretaceous  age ;  and 
yet,  like  all  other  great  mountain  belts,  it  has  been  formed  by 
many  additions  made  at  various  times.  In  California,  the  range 
is  largely  composed  of  granite  and  other  crystalline  rocks  of  an- 
cient date,  flanked  by  slates  which  have  been  proved  by  the  Cal- 
ifornia geologists  to  be  of  Triassic  and  Jurassic  age  ;  while  the 


'i ml  linhn m  •;/'  Northern  / 

Cretaoeoufl  is  deported  uneonfonnahly  upon  these,   ri.-in;:  to  the 
.'it  of  hut   a   few  hundred  feet  above  the  sea.      North   «»f  tin- 
California    liiu',    the    n.cks    forming    the   mountain-.   a< 
mentioned,    arc  almost    entirely  erupt  i\e  :  and  it  ise\ident  that 
this    has    heeii    the  theatre  ..f   more  violent  \olcanic  action  tlian 
any  other  part  of  the  continent  known  to  us.      MOM  of  the  erup- 
tions   took    place  in    Tertia  y  tunes,    as    we  know  fr..m  the  inter- 
calation of  tin'  trap  overflows  with    the  Tertiary  lake->edmi< 
many  of  which  are  store-houses  of  vegetable  and  animal  fV 
hut  they  have  continued  down  to  the  present  da\. 

Manv  years  ago.  when  connected  with  Western  Coveniment 
Surveys,  I  followed  these  mountains  from  the  California  line 
to  the  Columbia,  and  at  several  points  crossed  lava  stream- 
which  had  tlowed  down  the  cast  Hank  of  the  Cascades,  and 
were  as  t'roh  and  ragged  as  the  modern  lava  streams  of  Yesir. 
Not  a  particle  of  vegetation  had  attached  itself  to  them,  and  it 
rtain  that  not  a  hundred  years  have  passed  since  some  of 
them  were  (lowing. 

AVIINI    (ii..\<ii:i;s  OF  TIN.  CASI  M>I:   MorxTAiWS, 

A-  lias  hecn  stated,   the   Rocky  Mountain.-,    from  New  V 
to  British  Columbia,  abound  in  evidences  of  ancient  ^laciation. 
This  is  also  true  of  the  I'inta  Mountains,    the  \Vasatch.    tin    9 
erra  Nevada  and  the  Cascade  Mountain*. 

In  the  irroiip  of  five  snowy  peaks,  called   in  «  '  'he  Three 

SiM  nise  onlv  three  are  vi>ihle  from  the  \\'illam 

ley— miniature  glaciers  were  found  by  our  party  in  1855  at  the 
heads  of  Me  Ken /.!«•'>  Fork,  and  of  one  of  the  tributaries  of  thftlta 
Chutes  ;  and  on  Mt.  h'ainier  a  do/i-n  «»r  more  have  been  described, 
K>me  many  miles  in  length.  Hut  all  the  glaciers  and  snow-fields 
now  existing  on  the  Cascade  Mountains  ai'e  uf  jnifieant 

compared  with  those  of  the  glacial  period.  Then  every  gorge 
was  filled  with  snow  ami  ice,  the  bi  d  more  irregular 

miti  were  oovered  with  glaciers,  and  these  descended  sc\ 

thousand    feet    below   the  ,  .ne  of   perpetual  snow.      Now 

we  find,    over   miles   square,    the  rock-surfaces  plan. 

red  like  a  plowed  field,  ai,  > injecting crc->'  anio 

rock,  rough  and  ragged  as  it  was,  is  rounded  over  and  \\orn  into 


257       Geology  and  Botany  of  Xortltern  Pacific  Railroad. 

a  roche  moutonnee.  From  the  Three  Sisters  the  glaciers  descend- 
ed into  the  valley  of  the  Willamette  on  the  west  and  that  of  the 
Des  Chutes  on  the  east;  and  I  traced  with  the  barometer  the  gla- 
cial markings,  from  the  snow-line  to  a  point  2500  feet  lower, 
where  they  pass  under  the  alluvium  of  McKenzk-'s  Fork.* 

THE   FORESTS   OF   THK   CASCADE   MOUNTAINS. 

All  the  summits  and  western  slopes  of  the  Cascade  Mountains 
are  covered  with  a  dense  forest,  mainly  of  evergreens,  of  which 
many  of  the  trees  are  of  gigantic  dimensions.  On  the  eastern 
slopes,  the  prairies  in  places  run  up  the  mountain  sides,  but  the 
timber  follows  all  the  valleys  down  to  the  plain.  East  of  the 
mountains  are  scattered  trees  of  the  yellow  pine  (Pinus  ponde- 
rosa)  and  the  western  cedar  (Juniperus  occidental**),  and  in  some 
localities,  as  has  been  mentioned,  groves  and  forests  of  the  former. 
The  evergreens  which  cover  the  mountains  consist  of  four  spe- 
cies of  pine,  viz.,  Pinus  Lambertiana,  P.  monticola,  P.  albi- 


*  It  has  been  claimed  by  Lecoq  (Les  Glaciers  el  les  Climats),  and  following 
him,  by  Prof.  Whitney  and  others  (Later  Climatic  Changes),  that  the  great  devel- 
opment of  glaciers  during  the  Ice  Period,  such  as  those  of  the  Canadian 
highlands,  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  Cascades,  of  which  we  have  such 
abundant  evidence,  was  not  the  effect  of  a  cold  period,  but  a  warm  one, 
which  increased  the  precipitation  and  consequently  the  snow-fall,  at  all 
places  where  the  temperature  was  low  enough  to  cause  it  to  take  the  form 
of  snow.  If  this  was  all,  however,  the  most  extensive  glaciers  should  be 
in  the  Alpine  districts  of  the  tropics  or  of  the  temperate  zones,  wherever  the 
precipitation  is  most  abundant  and  the  temperature  low  enough  to  produce 
perpetual  snow.  But  we  have,  on  the  summits  of  the  Cascades,  a  demon- 
stration of  the  fallacy  of  this  view  ;  since  here  some  of  the  mountains  rise 
14,000  feet  and  the  line  of  perpetual  snow  is  not  over  7,000  feet,  while  the 
annual  precipitation  is  greater  than  in  almost  any  other  portion  of  our 
country.  In  fact  the  snow  accumulates  in  such  quantity  that,  even  in  mid- 
summer, it  reaches  so  low  that  it  is  met  and  opposed  by  a  vigorous  forest 
growth,  the  product  of  a  mild  climate.  It  is  evident  that  no  elevation 
of  temperature,  though  it  should  increase  the  evaporation  on  the  Pacific  and 
the  rainfall  on  the  coast,  would  cause  the  renewal  of  the  ancient  glaciers  ; 
but  with  a  depression  of  temperature  which  should  continue  the  present 
winter  conditions  through  the  year,  the  precipitation  remaining  the  rcame, 
the  accumulation  would  soon  cover  the  mountain  summits  with  snow  and 
ice  and  bring  the  glaciers  down  to  their  old  limit. 


;  >tlnnnl.      258 

/•//////>•  and   /'.  funturhi.       0  .   lli«-  lir>t   i>  the   m.,.(   -i-ai.Mc 

es  of  the  genus,  attaining  in  it*  ohosea  habitat  m  i. 

Of  mountains,  a  height  of  300  feet  and  a  diameter  of  from   ! 
i:»  feet      /'.  imin/im/lf   i>  much   >maller,  hardly  .-,, nailing  in  di- 
mensions  its   eastern    representative,  the  white   pun-,  Imt  el. 

mbling  it  in   general    habit    and   minor  botanical   rb 
On  tlir  mountain.-  it  is  le»  abundant  than  in  the  \all.-v  of  (  I., 
Fork,    but    attains   somewhat    larger   BlZfe      Tin-,  with  tin-  - 
pine  and  white  pine.  con>t  it  ut«-  a  wrll-defin.  ra«-- 

trri/iMl    by   livc'-K-avcd   and  blue-green   foliage:   fusiform,   r. 
ous.  imbricated   cones,  han.irin.u  "M  the  Wldl  >-w  large  and 

lui:b  branclies  :  and  in  the  character  of    the  wood.      Three   tir>, 
(le.Ni^natin.ir  by  that  name  those  bearing  i-rect  c.tno  with  p.  : 
nent   ;t\e>  and  deciduous  scales,  are  also  common,  rhk,  Abies 
i/ni/idin,  A.  Huliilia,  and  J.  nmahilitt.      Of  these,  the  first  is  the 
\\tMern   balsam-lir,   resembling  our  eastern   bal.-am.   but  a  more 
ma.iiiiitieeiit  t  ree,  at  t  aininjr  an  alt  1 1  ude  of  :><»(>  feet.      The  la>' 
are  remarkable  for  the  magnitude  cf  their  cones,  which  are  six 
inches  in  length  and  two  and  a  half  in  diameter,  the  first  deco- 
rated with    rellexed  and   timbriated  hruets,  the  second    purple  in 
color  and  dotted  over  with  resin.     Four  >pm     -.  l>  .u^la-V.  M<  n 

's,  I'atton's,  and  the  hemlock,  are  there.  Of  these,  the  tii>t 
is  the  largest  and  the  most  abundant,  attaining  an  altitude  of 
over  300  feet  and  a  diameter  of  10  feet  :  Men/.ies's  spruce  (Abies 
SHclu-itnix)  grows  to  ti  height  of  01  «-t,  and  is  ^-nerally  ;i> 

>tnct  as  a  church   spire:   the  hemlock    is  compurat  i\  el\ 
the  high  lands,   and  is  onlj  seen  at  its  best  in  the  \alh-\-  : 
ton's   spruce   (Ahit-s    I'ntltminuu)   is  a  near  relat  i\e  of  the  hem- 
lock,   having  the  same  tVathcr\  foliage,  but  that  which  is  d. 
and  richer.      On  the  whole,  it  is  in  my  judgment  the  handsomest 
of  all  the  conifers.     On  some  of  the  Alpine  meadows  among  the 
MIOW  mountains— especially  the  Three  Sistere— are  scattered  in- 
dividual trees  or  groups  of  two  or  three  kinds  of  fir  and  >prmv, 
which  surpass  in  symmetry  and   graceful   groa  ^  human 

achievement  in  the  way  of  landscape  gardening.     Where  th 
forest*  are  most  dense,  the  trees  are  so  thickly  set  that  two  great 
trunks  may  generally  be  reached  by  the  e\u  n  led  arms.     No  un- 
dergrowth occupies  the  ground,  and  the  foliage  of  the  firs  is  con- 
tin. -.1   to  the  higher  branches,   which   interlock  to  make  a  roof 


259       Geology  and  Botany  of  Northern  Pacific  Railroad. 

impenetrable  by  the  sun's  rays.  Sometimes  the  gloom  of  these 
forests  is  further  enhanced  by  gray  or  black  lichens,  which  drape 
the  trunks  and  hang  from  the  dead  branches  like  the  Spanish 
moss,  but  producing  a  far  more  funereal  effect.  Where  fire  has 
run  through  these  forests,  the  trees,  killed  but  not  consumed, 
and  subsequently  overthrown  by  the  wind,  form  a  labyrinth 
through  which  it  is  sometimes  well-nigh  impossible  to  force  one's 
way.  The  ground  thus  open  to  the  sunshine  is  soon  covered 
by  a  dense  growth  of  bracken  (Pteris  aquilina),  which  often 
reaches  a  height  of  from  six  to  eight  feet.  After  this  or  with  it, 
comes  Ceanothus  or  manzanita,  with  huckleberries  and  service- 
berries,  which  fruit  so  abundantly  as  even  to  tint  the  mountain 
sides  with  the  black,  purple  or  blue  of  their  berries. 

The  larch,  to  which  reference  has  already  been  made,  is  scat- 
tered sparsely  over  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Cascades,  and  it  here 
attains  its  maximum  dimensions.  The  trunk  is  sometimes  200 
feet  in  height,  the  branches  relatively  small,  and  the  foliage  fine 
and  delicate  in  color,  so  that  the  larger  trees  look  like  lofty  col- 
umns wreathed  and  decorated  by  climbing  vines. 

The  hard-wood  trees  are  few  and  insignificant  as  compared 
with  the  conifers.  In  the  gorges  and  along  the  streams  are  the 
narrow-leaved  and  trembling  poplars,  and  on  the  uplands  the 
large-leaved  maple  and  chinquapin  (Acer  maorophyllum  and  Cas- 
tanopsis  chrysophylla) ;  the  first  is  the  only  real  tree-maple  of 
the  west  coast.  It  attains  a  height  of  75  to  80  feet,  and  the 
leaves,  averaging  six  inches  in  diameter,  on  young  plants  are 
sometimes  many  times  as  large.  The  chinquapin,  though  usually 
a  shrub,  occasionally  forms  a  handsome  tree  30  to  50  feet  in 
height,  conspicuous  for  the  contrast  between  the  bright  green 
of  the  upper  and  the  golden  yellow  of  the  under  surface  of  its 
leaves. 

THE   GORGE   OF  THE   COLUMBIA. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  impressive  and  interesting  topographi- 
cal features  in  all  the  picturesque  West.  It  is  cut  with  a  nearly 
straight  westerly  course,  across  the  whole  breadth  of  the  Cascade 
Mountains,  fifty  miles,  and  its  banks  rise  from  2,000  to  4,000 
feet  directly  from  the  river  side.  Most  of  the  material  of  which 
the  walls  are  composed  is  basalt.  This  can  be  seen  to  form  dis- 


tirniiii/ff  ,i,ui  Botany  »r  .\     "« 

tiiu-t  layers,  the  pro.lii.-t>  of  dilTeivnt  QVerflowi    from    tl 
volcanic  vents  north  ami  south  of  it..      C:.p,.  II, ,m.  a  bold  1  < 
lain!,  shows  a  vertical  f'acr  of  trap  n.-aily  :.IHI  f,  et   in  height. 

N"  one  who  examines  the  -or^e  of  the  Coluiul.ia  will  fail  to 
be  cotninccd  that  it  ha>  heeii  cut  by  tin-  riter,  'I  he  -.  m-ral 
altitude  of  the  mountains,  in  winch  there  are  no  oil,, 

lower  than  ahout    :>.< feet,    as   well  as  the  altitude  of  tin-  lake 

deposits   on    the   eastern    side,    indicate  that  the  work  of  cut 
this  channel  began  at  a  height  of  not  less  than  3,0<»n  fWt  al 
the  sea.      At  this  time  the  river  must  have  had  a  fall  of  at   least 
this  nnmher  of  feet    into  the  valley  of  the  Willamette,   am: 
must  picture  to  ourselves  a  series  of  cascades  of  greater  magni- 
tude and  more  picturesque  than  any  now  known.     This  water- 
power  was,  however,  busily  en <ra<:cd  in  cuttinir  down  the  bar 
and    in   process  of  time  this  was  so  completely  ivmo\»-.|  that  a 
navigable  canal  was  opened  from  the  Dalles  to  the  ocean.     The 
western  entrance  to  the  gorge  is  now  at  tide-level,  and  the  1. 
part  of  the  river  is,  like  the  Hudson,  an  arm  of  the  §ca      I     - 
true  that  at  present  the  "Cascades  of  the  Columbia"   form 
rions  interruption  to  the  navigation  of  the  river,   for  the\ 
produced  by  a  dam  63  feet  high,  which  tills  the  channel  for  three 
miles.      Hut    this  dam.    as  we  know,    is  of   recent  date,    and  has 
been  caused  by  an  avalanche  from  the  sides  of  the  gorge.     Above 
it.  the  river  is  simply  a  long  lake,  and  in  low  water  a  ttri 
stumps  and  trunks  can  be  seen  coming  up  from  below  ti 
le\el,   which  belonged  to  trees  that  could  never  ha\»  LM-OWM  in 
the    places   they   occupy,  if  the    barrier   of    the    Cascades   had 
ted. 

in  boats  na\  i irate  tin-  Columbia  from  the  Pallo  doun.  with 
a  tran>fer  at  the  Cascades;  and  this  is  much  the  better  route  to 
take  for  those  \\ho  would  get  a  good  view  of  the  gorge,  with  it- 
imposing  walls,  its  hanging  forests  and  it>  pictun-,,ue  \\aterfall- 
which  leap  l.non  feet  from  t  he  cliffs,— to  say  nothing  of  the  old 
Indian  burial-grove,  and  the  multitude  of  >ilicitied  tree  trunks  at 
,1,,.  i  The  railroad  is  built  almii:  the  face  of  the  south- 

ern clilT,  hi-h  above  the  water,  ami  although  it  gives  only  a  one- 

,1  \ie\\  of  the  gorge,  is  generally  chosen  by  travelers  who 
fer  rapid  transit  to  beauty  of  seen* 


261       Geology  and  Botany  of  Northern  Pacific  Nailroad. 
THE    LOWER   COLUMBIA. 

The  country  bordering  the  Lower  Columbia  is  too  well-known 
to  require  detailed  description.  I  am  compelled,  however,  to 
refer  to  one  or  two  points  in  its  physical  structure,  which  are  of 
special  interest  when  brought  into  connection  with  facts  of  simi- 
lar import  observed  in  the  region  about  Pnget's  Sound.  I  have 
said  that  the  Lower  Columbia  is  an  arm  of  the  sea.  It  is  in  fact 
a  deep  river  valley  which  has  been  flooded  by  an  influx  of  the 
sea  caused  by  subsidence.  This  brings  the  tide-water  to  the  foot 
of  the  falls  of  the  Willamette  at  Oregon  City,  and  to  the  Cas- 
cades. It  requires  no  argument  to  prove  that  such  a  channel 
could  not  have  been  cut  unless  by  a  rapid  stream  flowing  into 
the  ocean  when  it  stood  at  a  lower  level.  Whether  the  change 
in  the  relative  level  of  land  and  sea  here  remarked  was  part  of  a 
general  movement  that  produced  the  influx  of  the  sea  into  the 
fiords  which  fringe  the  northern  coast ;  and  whether  this  is  nbt  a 
part  of  a  still  grander  movement  that  flooded  the  old  excavated 
valleys  of  the  James  River,  the  Potomac,  the  Schuylkill,  the 
Hudson,  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Saguenay,  and  at  the  same  time 
filled  the  fiords  of  the  northeastern  coast,  are  questions  which 
cannot  now  be  fully  answered,  but  are  worth  considering. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  general  plan  of  the  topography  of 
this  part  of  the  coast  is  altogether  similar  to  that  of  California  ; 
namely,  the  great  wall  of  the  Cascades,  bordered  on  the  west  by 
the  Willamette  and  Cowlitz  valleys  and  the  Coast  Mountains, 
are  re-produced  further  south  by  the  Sierra  Nevada,  the  great 
California  valley,  and  the  Coast  Ranges  ;  and  their  topographical 
features  are  not  only  physically  similar,  but  are  geologically  iden- 
tical,— the  Cascades  being  the  northern  continuation  of  the  Si- 
erra Nevada,  the  more  modern  Coast  Mountains  following  con- 
tinuously the  coast  line ;  the  great  trough  between  them  being 
essentially  one,  but  filled,  in  its  centre,  by  a  mass  of  mountains. 

The  forests  of  the  country  bordering  the  lower  Columbia  are 
a  physical  feature  that  will  strike  every  traveler  with  surprise 
and  admiration.  They  are  also  of  primary  importance  economi- 
cally, since  they  form  the  basis  of  the  most  important  industry 
of  the  northwest  coast.  They  are  mostly  composed  of  evergreen 
trees  which  attain  an  altitude  of  200  to  300  feet,  and  are  crowded 


so  elo>el\    tliat   When  Mil  O|M*nit)£    i>    made    ill    Ihe  foi  •  in- 

.-in-rounded    l.y  a    wall    of    limher.      'l'i  -  leh 

from    ihc  California!!    to    the    Briti.-h    lint-    on    t  he  -umnnt- and 
caMcrn   think  of  tin-  Ca.-cadr.-.  0?er  all  tin-  Coa-t    Mountain-. 
in  the  lowlands  alon^  the  Willamette  and  the  Co\\  lit/.,  and  admit 
I'uirctV  Sound,  with  the  exception    of  prairie.-  thai  form  part  of 
tin-  surface  of   the  WUhlQlftte  Vallej,    and   occnp\    linn:- 
ahoiit  the  Sound. 

In  M.uthwestern  Oregon  and  m.rt  hern  ( 'aliforma  an-  tin-  famon- 
n-dwood  uToves,  the  only  place  in  the  world  where  this  niHgniti- 
eent  ti'ee  (^c// t'oiit  Stmperviren*)  yrows  in  siu-h  numhiTS  BA  to 
form  forests.  It  extends  in  clumps  and  scattered  tree.-  far  down 
the  coast  in  California,  and  it  does  not  reach  the  C'olnmhia  «-n 
the  north,  so  that  its  range  is  <jiiite  restricted.  About  Fort  Or- 
ford  and  Humholdt  Bay  it  is  the  principal  timher  tree,  and  in 
si/.e  it  almost  equals  its  iriuantic  relative,  the  mammoth  t  r- 
Calaveras  C'ounty  (Sn/mn'a  yii/tin/rti).* 

At  Port   Orford  one  may  see  hundreds  of   redwood    trees  of 
which  the  trunks  attain  a  diameter  of  10  to  15  feet;  but   as  the 
lumher  and  timher  they  fnrni.-h  is  of  excellent  quality.    thr\ 
hein«r  destroyed  at  a  rate  that   wil!    ioOfl  exhaust  the  >upply. 

Along  the  Columhia  and   ahoiit    Tu^et's  Sound   the  principal 
trees  are  the  Douglas   and    Meii/.ie.-   .-pruces.    the    hal.-am  tir,    the 
western  arhor  vita-  and   the  hemlock.      In  some  localities,  espe- 
cially further  north,  t  wo  c\  prose-  ;nv  ahundant.  the  Nootkacy- 
piess  (C/unntfri/^in  />•  .\'////-//»  //>  >'* )  and  t  lie  jrin^er  pine  (6f.  Law- 
*n/iii'/Hi).      The  latter    is   soincl  inies  called    t  lie  .irin^er  pine  from 
the   fragrance  of   it.-  wood.      It   is  culti\ated    for   its   heauts 
i    for  the  excellence  of  its  lumber.      Much   lr.-s  nti' 
mis.  hut   widel\   scattere(l.   i>  the  uolmi  \.-u    i  T<*XU4  '  :>      ''-liti). 
often  a  handsome  tree  50  to  GO  feet    in  height.      Along  the  i 


•Gre:il   M-i.-n title  inlrrr-l    all:ich«-S   !••    lh«--r    tun 

th.-y  an-  ihr  only  n-pn-^-ntativi--  of  tin-  .£cmifl  now  livinir  «-n  the  earth'- 

I  rrlic  ot  tin-  -rrainl  f..n--t-  \\liirh  in  Tntimy  lime*  covered  all 
ihr  nnrihrrn  part  of  i  his  continent,  and  in  whirl.  Hn-x  «•  f  awocUted  with 
oth<T  sprrir*  ..f  >.</-/,,;,/.  anil  wiih  H  inuliitudr  of  oth.-r  evergreen  and  d< 
uout  tree*,  mott  of  which  hmre  dlMppe*re4.  lli;t  :l  ••  u  r,  main.— UM- 

•  Irciilnou-  cypress,  magnolias.  «-ic  ,     \\hi.li  formtbegl"  |»re§- 

•  •lit    f,.: 


263       Geology  and  Botany  of  Northern  Pacific  Railroad. 

sides  are  many  cottouwoods  (Populus  trichocarpa) ,  the  Oregon 
ash  (Fraxinus  Oregona),  and  an  arborescent  alder  (Alnns  rhom- 
bifolia),  which  reaches  an  altitude  of  60  feet,  with  a  trunk-diam- 
eter of  12  to  15  inches.  On  the  dryer  and  higher  ground  is 
found  Finns  ponderosa,  and  on  the  lower,  thickets  of  P.  contorta, 
often  growing  like  canes  in  a  cane-brake.  Scattered  through 
this  lowland  forest  are  also  the  two  arborescent  maples  of  the 
west,  Acer  macrophyllum  and  A.  circinnatum.  Of  these  the 
latter,  called  the  vine  maple,  is  a  peculiar  feature  in  the  forests 
of  the  Lower  Columbia,  Puget's  Sound,  and  Vancouver's  Island. 
It  is  rarely  more  than  six  inches  in  diameter,  the  trunks  very 
slender,  and  several  springing  from  the  same  root.  These  droop, 
and  reaching  the  ground,  frequently  take  root  at  the  summit. 
Where  these  interlacing  trunks  are  numerous,  they  form  a  thicket 
which  is  almost  impenetrable.  To  this  meagre  list  of  angio- 
spermous  trees,  I  should  add  Garry's  oak  and  the  Madrona  (Quer- 
cus  Garryana,  and  Arbutus  Menziesii).  The  oak,  scattered 
about  the  open  grounds  of  the  Willamette  Valley  and  Puget's 
Sound,  occasionally  attains  a  diameter  of  three  or  four  feet,  but 
with  a  spreading  and  irregular  growth  and  brittle  wood,  so  that 
it  has  little  value  as  a  timber  tree.  The  "  Madrona"  is  a  small 
tree,  but  much  admired  for  the  beauty  of  its  foliage,  and  the  pe- 
culiarity of  its  bark.  The  former  is  persistent  and  rich,  and  the 
latter  exfoliates  in  brown  and  greenish  layers  of  different  shades. 
The  undergrowth  of  the  Pacific  coast  forest,  where  the  latter  is 
not  too  dense,  is  abundant  and  varied.  Over  the  rocks  and  fallen 
tree-trunks  is  a  thick  mat  of  mosses,  which  grow  with  a  luxuri- 
ance and  exhibit  a  variety  nowhere  rivalled  in  the  eastern  States. 
Ferns  are  less  numerous  than  might  be  expected  in  this  moist 
climate,  but  a  few  species  are  abundant  and  grow  with  great 
luxuriance.  The  most  common  is  the  cosmopolitan  bracken 
(Pteris  aqtiilina),  the  next,  Aspidium  munitum,  strikingly 
like  our  eastern  A.  acrostichoides,  but  having  a  much  stronger 
growth.  Of  the  less  numerous  species,  a  respectable  list  could 
be  made,  but  on  the  whole  the  ferns  are  not  an  important  ele- 
ment in  vegetation.  Of  the  under-shrubs,  the  most  striking  is 
Fatsia  Jiorrida ;  this  has  the  aspect  of  an  Aralia  ;  it  has  a  thick 
woody  stem  six  to  ten  feet  long,  somewhat  decumbent  at  base, 
but  bearing  above  a  number  of  large  palmate  leaves.  Both  stem 


and  lea\e<  arc  very  prickly,  and  it   i-  a  .  <.nini..n  Inn   probably  tin- 

grounded    belief    that    its   >pnie>  arc   highly  pn: m,      A   , 

shruhhy  ^'/lint-it  (>'.  Dnu<ilnsii)  -r..\\^  iri   in   ten   feet    in  height. 
with    numerous   laruc   open    panic].-   ..f    inoonffpicUOOl    Bo« 
;ai    BpeC  ••mo/Jnts  abound,    the    nm«t    <..nini»n  I.. 

' '.     rrlKfuutu,     which    forms   dense    thicket  *.       &OJ|| 
/•/v//ff.  conspicuous  from  its  hlack  fo/fatifoflfUI-likefrtlit,  >ui round- 
ed   liy    larp'    per.-istent   purple   involucre-.    i>    found    alon^    the 
streams,  with  one  of  (he  mo>t    slmwy  of  all    tin-  (  hv-Mi,  >lirul,., 
t'nnuix  \nffnllii,    Audul)on,   the  western  ivpn->riitat  i\c   «.f   our 
dogwood.      Tsnally  it  is  smaller,  hut  occasionally  heron, 
.")(»  fi'i-t  in  height.      Tlu-  llowci'-like  ralyce>  lire  lar-e.    while,  and 
less  crumpled  than  those  of  the  ea>tcrn  live. 

More  interest  ini:  than  these  to  hotanists.  as  well  as  to  th 
eral  public,  are  the  fruit-hearing  shrubs  tin-  "Salal,"  (  <i>nt/(' 
fi/ni/lun.)  the  Oregon  ^rape  (/li-rf/i-ris  (n/nifn/imn  and  /.  "///). 

and   the   "salmon-berry."    (liulms  afn-rtuliilis  .      Of     ihe>e.    tin- 
first  covers  the  -round  o\cr  -'reat    areas  with    it>  creepil 
ciimbent  stem,  its  broad,   oval,   shinin-  lea\.-.   and  its  penc 
black   and   edible   fruit.       The  two  speciefl  ol  I,  so  well 

known    under  their  old    name,    Mti/innin.    are  low  shrubs,    with 
pinnate,  spinv  leaves,  yellow,  clustered  flowers   and    blue  h|o..m- 
covered  acid  berries.     They  are  not   unfre«pjently  cult 
ornamental  plants  in  t  he  eastern  States.      The  -alm<m  berr\  ; 
its  name  from  the  color  of  the  fruit,  which  re>embles  that  of  the 
llcsh  of  the  salmon.     It  is  a  tall,  strong-growing  rasphern  .  with 
conspicuous  purple  flowers  ami  lar-c  ovonl  fruit,  much  esteemed 
bv  the  Indians,  but  rather  insijiid.      l\nlms  \n/k,utn.«.  the  white 
\arietv  of  our  flowering  raspbcrn.    i<  Bfeiywben  <  "inmon.  with 
the  jirccise  habit  of  its  eastern  representat i\c. 

Si  i;i  A.  i.  (.  i.()i.<)<,^    a\    l  in    l'i  '.i .1'-  801  N  i'  I-  L81», 

The  name  l'i  und  is,  in  popular  DM,    DUMl< 

the  ].c(  uliar  group  of  inlets  and   tidc\va\>  \\hidi  lie  immediatels 

of  Vane.. liver's  Island,  —  I'u^et's  Soun.l   pn.p.-r.    Adm. 
Inlet,  Hood's  Canal,  etc.     These  occupy  the  north 
of   the  great  Columbian  \alley,    which,    like  its  counterpart  in 
California,    lies    between    the  Coast    ran-'-    ami    the  Cordillera*, 
Further  north  still,  this  depression  is  deflected  toward  the  north- 


265        Geoloyy  and  Botany  of  Northern  Pacific  Railroad. 

west  by  a  change  in  the  direction  of  the  Cascade^Mountains,  and 
of  the  representatives  of  the  Coast  ranges  on  Vancouver's  Island, 
is  mostly  occupied  by  water,  and  is  known  as  the  Gulf  of  Georgia. 
In  Washington  Territory  the  Coast  Mountains  are  higher  than 
in  Oregon,  and  have  received  the  local  name  of  [the  Olympian 
range,  of  which  the  highest  summit  is  called  Mt.  Olympus.  This 
range  terminates  somewhat  abruptly,  but  is  apparently  continued 
in  the  mountains  of  Vancouver's  Island.  Through  the  gap 
between  these  and  the  Olympian  range  a  deep  channel  is  cut, 
now  an  arm  of  the  sea,  called  the  Strait  of  Juan  de  Fuca.  In 
former  times,  when  this  portion  of  the  continent,  and  probably 
the  whole  northwest  coast,  stood  higher  above  the  ocean,  this  strait 
was  the  valley  of  a  great  river,  which  drained  most  of  the  western 
slope  of  the  Cascades  in  Washington  Territory,  and  had  as 
branches  the  Skagit,  Snoqualme,  Dwamish,  Puyallop,  Nisqtially 
and  various  minor  streams.  During  the  ice  period,  this  hydro- 
graphic  basin  was  filled  with  a  great  glacier  made  up  of  contri- 
butions from  all  the  surrounding  mountains.  It  flowed  out  to 
sea  by  the  Strait  of  Fuca  ;  but  this  channel  was  far  too  narrow 
for  it,  and  it  spread  all  over  the  southern  portion  of  Vancouver's 
Island,  planing  off,  rounding  over  or  deeply  scoring  the  rocks  in 
its  passage,  and  leaving  its  autograph  so  plainly  written  that  he 
who  runs  may  read. 

As  the  glaciers  retreated,  they  left  behind  a  sheet  of  drift 
several  hundred  feet  in  thickness, — partly  water  worn  and  strati- 
fied, partly  unstratiiied  boulder  clay  with  striated  pebbles. 
These  drift  deposits  formed  a  plain  of  which  the  surface  was 
nearly  level.  In  process  of  time,  the  draining  streams  had  cut 
in  this  plain  a  series  of  valleys  all  tributary  to  one  which  led  out 
through  the  Strait  of  Fuca  to  the  ocean.  After  perhaps  some 
thousands  of  years,  during  which  the  excavation  of  these  valleys 
progressed,  a  subsidence  of  the  land  or  rise  of  the  water-level 
caused  the  sea  to  flow  in  and  occupy  the  main  valley  and  all  its 
tributaries  up  to  the  base  of  the  mountain  slopes.  Such  in  few 
words  is  the  history  of  the  formation  of  this  remarkable  system 
of  inlets.  They  are  simply  the  flooded  valleys  of  a  great  river 
and  of  the  branches  which  formerly  joined  it,  but  which  now 
empty  into  the  extremities  of  the  finger  like  inlets  that  have 
partially  replaced  them. 


•  rtli'-rn   /'.tr, f>       , 

There  ,-uv  hnt   feu    localities    in  tin    i  ,1  Ii.i<ii|  where 

tlu'  rocky  sul)str;ituiii 

level.      Aloui:  tlu-  northern  and  WCM  -m  margin  of   Vane -u\ 
Sucia,    Orcas  and  \Vlii. lliy  Man  k    and    at  ( 'huekenmts  an-: 
home  the  rock  appears,    bill  at  Taeo,,,a,  Sirilacmn.  - 
MailJMMi.  Port  Townsend.  and  it  may  he  >aid  ^.-m-rally  ahont   the 
Sound,    the    shores    are    steep  lilntTs.    Inn   to    1.  ,  height, 

composed  of  drift  alon  -.  Knun  the  clitT-  at  Port  K'lclmi'.nd  atxl 
'1'aeonia,  1  took  sub-angular  >eratehed  and  itv-worn  ].,•!. !,!,•<.  an 
characteristic  and  convincing  as  anv  to  h  •  found  in  tin-  honlder 
clay  of  the  eastern  Stal 

Tlu»  siihsidi-iicc  which  canseil  the  >ea.\vat -r  to  iloxv  intu  tlu- 
suhai'rial  excavated  valleys  of  PIIIM'>  Sound,  !ille<|  aNn  the  eh..n- 
nel  of  the  Colnnihia  to  the  (  and  the  -y>trm  of  i 

that    fringe   the   northwest  coast,  of  which  tin-  MI.I- 

t  ives. 

\Ve  have  evidence,  too,  that  the  area  oreiipied  hy  the  sea  wa«  at 
one  time  much  more  extensive  than  now,  for  all  the  country  im- 
mediately ahont  Pdget's Sound  is  marked  with  f  marine 
terraces  which  Mr.  Bailey  Willis,  who  studied  them  when, 
nected  with  the  Transeont  ineiital  Survey  under  Prof.  Pumj>clly, 
tells  me  can  he  traced  to  a  height  of  l,«;on  feet  ahovt-  the  j>reaent 
OOean  level.  These  terraces  are  conspicuous  on  the  low  divide 
which  separates  the  valley  of  the  Cowlitx  from  the  ha>in  of  Pu- 
-  Sound  ;  ami  here,  as  over  much  of  this  region,  the  ground 
i>  COTered  with  pehhlo  and  waterworn  hoiilders,  t  lie  product  of 

tin-  long-con  tinned  dash  of  the  shore  ware*  on  a  -lope  •  •••inpoged 

of  drift  materials.  In  the  advance  ami  recession  of  the  shore- 
line, the  liner  materials  ha\e  heeii  im>>tly  \\a-hed  av\a\.  an«l  the 
>tony  surface  has  lit  lie  agricultural  vain  it  U 

well    ada|.te<l    to    the  growth  of   trees;  and   the  splendid  foreit 
which  covers  it  i>  pcrhap>  an  equivalent  for  all  it  \\iia  lost.     The 
facts  here  given  >how  why  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  in  Wik-h 
ton  Territory  is  limited  to  the  narrow  belts  of  i  dliiMum 

alon-  the  stream*,  and  indicate  that  the  lishrrie>.  coal-min 
and  luml.er  induMry  must  he  in  the  future,  as  the\  are  : 
the  moM  important  BOOrO  !th. 


"•i.5?       Geology  and  Botany  of  Northern  Pacific  Railroad. 
GEOLOGICAL  SUBSTRUCTURE. 

The  sheet  of  drift  which  has  been  described  covers  most  of  the 
lowland,  and  conceals  the  underlying  rocks  so  that  they  appear 
only  about  the  margin  of  the  basin.  The  foot-hills  of  the  Sierra, 
like  the  more  elevated  portions,  are  composed  chiefly  of  eruptive 
rocks  ;  but  at  various  places  along  the  northern  and  eastern  mar- 
gin of  the  basin,  the  drainage  streams  have  exposed  sedimentary 
strata.  These  are  all  Cretaceous  or  Tertiary.  On  Queen  Char- 
lotte's Island,  as  we  learn  from  the  Canadian  geologists,  are 
Lower  Cretaceous  rocks,  very  much  disturbed,  but  containing 
beds  of  lignite  converted  into  anthracite,  and  many  mollusks 
which  apparently  represent  the  Neocomian  of  the  Old  World. 

On  Vancouver's  Island,  the  granites  and  old  metamorpllic  sed- 
iments are  succeeded  by  Upper  Cretaceous  strata,  which  contain 
several  valuable  seams  of  coal  that  have  been  worked  for  many 
years.  Specimens  of  the  fossil  plants  and  mollusk.s  associated 
with  these  beds,  were  sent  by  Mr.  George  Gibbs  to  the  writer  in 
1858.  Among  the  former  were  Inoceramu^m^  Baculites,  which 
gave  the  earliest  information  of  the  Cretaceous  age  of  these  de- 
posits. Descriptions  of  some  of  the  fossil  plants  were  published 
by  the  writer  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Boston  Society  of  Natural 
History  for  18G3.  On  Orcas  and  Sucia  Islands  are  also  exposures 
of  Cretaceous  rocks  which  abound  in  fossils. 

On  the  east  side  of  the  basin,  coal  outcrops  at  several  points, 
and  has  been  worked  at  Bellingham  Bay  on  the  Skagit  River,  at 
Newcastle,  Carbonado  and  Wilkinson.  At  Carbonado  the  coal- 
bearing  rocks,  turned  up  at  a  high  angle,  are  cut  across  in  a 
canon  formed  by  Carbon  River,  and  a  very  satisfactory  view  is 
here  obtained  of  the  structure  of  one  of  the  local  basins.  The 
series  is  several  thousand  feet  in  thickness  ;  and  in  this  section 
nine  workable  seams  of  coal  are  exposed.  At  Wilkinson  and  in 
that  vicinity,  Mr.  Willis  made  a  careful  exploration  of  another 
basin,  which  also  includes  several  beds  of  coal  and  some  thous- 
ands of  feet  of  associated  rocks.  From  these  localities  and  others 
further  north,  large  collections  of  fossil  plants  have  been  made 
by  the  writer  and  his  assistant,  Mr.  Edward  Lorrance.  These 
represent'  a  rich  and  interesting  flora  of  Upper  Cretaceous  and 


'.'///  and  Botany  tf  \     >• .  •,  /,•„//,.,„„/. 

Tcrtiarj  which  Sgares  and  description!  will  I.,.  pnM>!,rd 

by  tli.   I  .  8,  (.coio-iral  Survey. 


M"iu:i;\    (,i.\.  [JJBS   01    i  n  i     8lBBH  L 

From    the    Willamette   Valley   and    l»n  ,,„].    splendid 

view.-  arc  obtained  of  tin-  .  .„„,. 

ains,— the  Tluv.  Mt.  Jefferson,    Mt.   !(....,- 

lit    St.    Helens,    Mt.    Tacoma  and    M:.    |:    .     .      (  ••    • 

Hood  has  an  altitudeof  11,225  feet,   Mt.  Adam-  1  •.'    . 

Tacoma    1  Llnii.      I,,    Colorado  and   California   are  a   num!. 

summits  of  e<|iial  absolute  height,    but    they  have  not!. 

the  relief  above  t  heir  surroundings  that  t!i  .  rarrv  fa 

perpetual  snow,  and  are  in  every  way  less  imp: 

ton  Territory,    the   permanent    snow-line   on  the  west  side  of  the 

mountains  is  about    6,500  feet,   on    the  Cittl  Bide  sever*]  hundred 

feet  hi-her.      .Mt.  Tacoma  carries,  therefore,  about  Sjinn  f, , 

snow.      Uclow   this  it  is  covered   with  a  d. 

hills  nowhere  rise  to  the  height  of  \?,niM  frrt  above  the  sea.   ami 

hence  are  invisible  at  a  distance:  so  from  many  phuvs  about  the 

S  mud.    practically   the   whole  of    the  moimtar 

view,— a  gigautic  OOD6  14,000   feet    in   height,   apparent Iv  r: 

directly  from  t  he  sea-level  !      Mt.  Shasta   has   the  .-anie  alt  :t  mle. 

and   as  seen   from    Scott's  or  Strawberry  Valley,    i<   wonderfullv 

impres.-ive:   but  it  is  situated  further  inland  and   further  south, 

it.-  base  is  higher  and  it  has  less  .-now.  and    it    is   then  foiv  M 

what  less  imposing.      Mt.  Hood,  a-  seen  under  favorable  circum- 

.-taiiccs  from   I-'ml   Vanemivi-r,  e-peeiall\  when  retlected  from  the 

lake-like    surface    of   the   Columbia,    is  as    hcautiful    but 

Lrrand.      It  is  not  too  much  to  sa\  then,    that  i thei  mountain 

on  this  continent,   and  none  in    Kurope.    r;\a!s   in   irrainleiir  . 
beauty  Mi.  Tae.inia  :  and   it  is  doubtful   whether  in   the  world 
then?   is  any   that    produc.-  iter  impres>ion   upon   the 

hole 

Though  appearing  in  t  he  « list  am -e  so  syninietr  HUM  it  h. 

Mt.  Tacoma  ha-  been  found  to  ;>ound    mass 

j:  of  three  eonspieiious  -iimniits.  and  m  . 
peak-,  with  prccij 

iiieh  make  tin-  a.-ccnt  ditlieull  II 


•-2G!)        Geology  and  Botany  of  Xurthent  Pdcifu:  lldilnntd. 

has  been  ascended,  however,  several  times,  and  its  labyrinths 
sufficiently  explored  to  prove  that  it  carries  from  eight  to  twelve 
glaciers,  some  of  which  are  many  miles  in  length  and  will  bear 
comparison  with  those  of  the  Alps. 

Every  traveller  who  enters  the  Puget's  Sound  region  from  the 
south,  is  snre  to  be  struck  by  the  turbid,  milky  appearance  of 
the  water  of  the  Cowlitz  River,  along  which  the  milroad  runs 
for  miles.  This  character  it  shares  with  nil  streams  which  drain 
glaciers,  and  has  caused  the  Swiss  mountaineers  to  give  to  the 
water  of  such  streams  the  name  of  "  Glctsclier  Mih'h."  This 
turbidity  is  due  to  the  sediment  produced  by  the  constant  grind- 
ing action  of  these  enormous  masses  of  moving  ice,  set  with 
stones,  upon  their  beds,  and  attests  the  sometimes  disputed  effi- 
ciency of  glaciers  as  eroding  agents.  The  Puyallop,  White  River, 
and  other  streams  which  come  down  from  Mt.  Tacoma,  are  alike 
milky,  and  each  shows  that  one  or  more  glaciers  are  continually 
grinding  away  at  its  head.  On  the  contrary,  the  streams  which 
do  not  come  from  glaciers  and  are  supplied  by  rain  only  and 
that  filtered  through  the  decaying  vegetation  of  the  dense  forests, 
carry  very  little  sediment,  and  that  chiefly  carbonaceous  matter. 
These  are  clear  but  brown,  and  the  contrast  which  the  water  of 
such  streams  presents  to  that  of  the  rivers  which  drain  the  gla- 
ciers, is  very  striking,  justifying  the  names  borne  by  two  such, 
of  Black  and  White  Rivers. 

It  has  been  contended  by  some  writers,  as  before  mentioned, 
that  the  extension  of  glaciers  in  former  times  was  due  simply  to 
an  increase  in  the  amount  of  precipitated  moisture  ;  but  it  is 
easy  to  see  that  the  heavy  rainfall  of  Washington  Territory  might 
be  increased  indefinitely  with  no  considerable  elongation  of  the 
glaciers.  But  even  with  the  rainfall  remaining  as  it  is,  if  a  de- 
pression of  temperature  should  take  place,  carrying  the  present 
conditions  of  winter  through  the  year,  the  glaciers  would  soon 
creep  down  into  their  old  beds,  fill  all  the  valleys  of  their  drain- 
ing streams,  and  finally  coalesce  to  form  one  grand  glacier  which 
would  flow  out  through  the  Strait  of  Fuca  to  the  ocean. 

Following  the  coast  northward  from  Puget  Sound,  we  find 
the -glaciers  coining  down  lower  and  lower,  until  in  Alaska  they 
reach  the  sea-level.  No  one  can  claim  that  this  is  because  the 
precipitation  is  greater  there,  since  observations  show  that  it  is 


"/'/     <l  till      Itntlllll/     llf        .\   Hi-fill    I'll        I'll:     ill  It 

not  :   luit    tin-  raivful  ol»-«Tvrr  must    smvlv   P800 

LU86  at    tin-   north    tin-    tniijicra:  nn-   i~    loWOF.       !!••  \\ 
;.t    tli.-si-   fac!>;i>  a  <l«'in<>nst  rat  iun   Hint  tlu   jirinn'  / 
///<'  prnilnrtinn  of  tin'  filn'iinini'iKi  ///'  tin    !<  >    / 
</(•/>/  ''  temperature:   that  it  \va-  a  IMTKM!  of  i-old  aii«l 

of  warmth. 


